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In yet another story of man made materials being used to better the lives of other species.

The Hand Up Project: Attempting to Meet the New Needs of Natural Life-Forms

Many Hermit Crabs have shells which are to small for their needs and resort to using refuse if they cannot find a suitable shell. The Hand Up Project proposes to meet this need by building artificial shells and dispersing them on appropriate beaches for the crabs to find and inhabit.

“The use of plastic in manufacturing these new homes is key. This material affords the crab an almost ideal dwelling. Being much lighter than calcium carbonate, these new houses do not take as much energy to carry during locomotion. Plastic is also structurally strong, which affords large areas of internal space in the new structures. This results in the greater internal volume-to-weight ratio that the crab prefers. Of additional benefit is the longevity of this material coupled with the way these crabs recycle and share their shelters. Due to the fact that plastic is non-biodegradable, these new forms may potentially outlast the life-span of the crab itself, thereby assuring many generations access to additional hand-me-down housing.”

Tags: science, nature

Disabled dolphin jumping again with world’s first artificial fin

TOKYO (AFP) – Fuji, a mother dolphin that lost 75 percent of her tail due to a mysterious disease, is jumping once again with the help of what is believed to be the world’s first artificial fin.

The 34-year-old dolphin held at Japan’s largest aquarium in the southern island of Okinawa wears the rubber fin for about 20 minutes a day allowing her to jump and to swim at the same speed of other dolphins.

“We are very grateful. Although she can swim without the artificial fin, the speed is very slow and she certainly cannot jump without it,” said Masaya Kowami, a breeder at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.

“Visitors have told us she looks happy,” he said.

I hate the idea of dolphins being kept in captivity but a story like this still warms the heart. I hope that she truly is happy with her new fin.

Tags: science, nature

BBC News: Is Spanish football racist?

Well, based on the evidence of last night’s match, which saw the Spanish fans directing racist abuse at Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips my opinion would be yes. Football commentator Alan Hansen said he had two words for the Spanish crowd last night ‘Absolutely Pathetic’. Not exactly the two words I had in mind, I think Gary Lineker put it better when he described it as ‘Deplorable’.

English fans are by no means above reproach and there is still instances of violent behaviour when they travel abroad, but racist abuse has all but disappeared. There are still incidents of racial abuse in English league matches but they are perpetrated by a tiny minority of fans and are treated very seriously by FA officials.

The question arises what should have been done about it?

Should the English players have walked off in protest?
Should the Spanish players have walked off in protest?
Should the referee have stopped play?

Any or all of the above should have happened but didn’t. A strong message does need to be sent to fans of all nationalities that racism is not at all acceptable in the game of football. There have been calls for the Spanish team to be prevented from playing in the 2006 World Cup but I think that is perhaps the wrong move, it’s is very unlikely to happen anyway.

It is a widespread problem anyway and not merely confined to Spain, FIFA must take a hard stance on this issue as it is as serious a problem as violent hooliganism. One possible move would be to ban all fans of a national team from attending future matches for a set period of time or number of matches in a similar fashion to the punishment meted out to players for such offences.

This may lead to matches being played in completely empty stadia but I think the message will get through and crowds should become somewhat self-governing with those that continue to shout abuse being shouted down by their fellow fans rather than be joined in the abuse.

Tags: sport

BoingBoing heralds the return of Futurefeedforward “the best science fiction site on the Internet.” The reason for the hiatus was apparently due to the forthcoming Futurefeedforward novel an extract of which is available.

Be warned though as readers of the “BOOK” are subject to a fairly stringent END-READER LICENSE AGREEMENT.

IMPORTANT—READ CAREFULLY: This End-Reader License
Agreement (“ERLA”) is a legally binding agreement between
you (the “READER”) and Hamlet Monkeys Media (the
“COMPANY”) concerning your licensed use of the subtended
text (the “BOOK”). By stipulation of this agreement, the BOOK
includes all material printed on pages affixed to the binding at
the time of purchase. The BOOK is also deemed to include any
marginal notations made by you or any other user, authorized or
unauthorized, and to include any and all ideas, notions, plans,
designs, or intuitions formed by you, whether or not fixed in
tangible form, during use of the BOOK or within thirty (30)
minutes before or after its use.

This agreement is a binding “flip-wrap” agreement; you agree to
be bound by its terms by opening, reading, or flipping through
the BOOK. If you do not agree to these terms, close the BOOK,
place it back on a nearby shelf with the cover in a forward-facing
position, and forget all of its contents. You may find it difficult
to forget the contents of the BOOK. Do not be alarmed.

In other future related news Slashdot reveals that the DaVinci Institute has set its sights on creating a Museum of Future Inventions.

This will be a museum where they exhibit things that haven’t been invented yet, like spray on clothing, instant sleep, genetically engineered Velcro sheep, and metric time. Pretty creative stuff. Some of the people they have involved are Dr. Paul MacCready, inventor of the Gossamer Albatross and Paul Dusenbery, Founder of the Space Science Institute.

Tags: science, books

I have joined The Sect of Homokaasu, but there is nothing to worry about my little web chums for they shall not steal my soul – only my time.

For this sect is all about rather addictive web-based games, including games titled Wanker which is not at all explicit and Fuck It which is not for the easily offended.

My current favourite is Gravity which I find oddly compelling and which has also been described as being very psychedelic… almost hypnotising.

Tags: games

These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

Unfortunately unlike Obi-Wan we don’t have the ability to influence the minds of people demanding to see our identification. There is however a chance for UK citizens to prevent the introduction of ID cards in the first place though. In a last gasp effort before the Queen’s Speech on 23rd November the NO2ID group have organised a petition to allow UK residents to voice their opposition to the proposed scheme.

NO2ID are a non-aligned diverse group of people and organisations who stand against the Government’s attempts to introduce intrusive, expensive and ineffective control of personal identity.

The British government seems dead set on pushing through this legislation so the petition is unlikely to dissuade them. However by voicing our concerns it is still possible to prevent it’s implementation. The Home Office in October of this year published A Summary of Findings from the Consultation on Legislation on Identity Cards (file size 749kb) which broadly outlines their thinking on this issue.

In June 2004 I published my analysis of the British national identity card scheme titled Identity and ID cards, in which I argued that privacy concerns aside the proposal will be ineffective in it’s aims.

Thanks to BoingBoing.

Tags: politics, ID cards

bar the inevitable lawsuits.

I’m surprised that Bush seems to have won the popular vote as well as the electoral vote as the early results had shown a small swing to the Democrats. Perhaps the conspiracy theorists are right and the Diebold electronic voting machines are easily manipulated to show a win for whichever candidate you want.

Well at least I can console myself with the knowledge that another four years of Bush will cause the US economy to be further fucked up resulting in a Great Depression for the 21st century. Not that I really want that to occur, but a weaker US economy could have benefits for the EU and Britain.

Tags: politics

Bush or Kerry, what does it matter anyway?

The world is gripped by the US election but should they be? The US president is referred to as the ‘leader of the free world’ but I’d be surprised if anyone in the ‘free world’ outside of the US really believes that’s the case.

Whoever is elected will hold sway over the foreign policy of America, but is there a clear difference between the broad policies of the candidates?

Iraq is a key area of difference but I believe the damage has already been done. With Kerry as US President can he really claw back the damage of the Bush administration or if Bush were to win can his government make the situation any worse than it is already.

But the key point is that neither candidate is prepared to put the fate of the World in front of that of America. International treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol are not seen as being in the best interest of America and so go unsupported and are stuck in the mire. Nationalism over Internationalism.

No major government of the world has made any significant movement to combat world poverty although there was an agreement made to further the debt relief of third-world nations. The opening up of international trade barriers would be a huge step to combatting third-world poverty but that is unlikely to happen either. Free trade is only for those with the economic clout to enforce it apparently.

The irony is that the long-term gains far outweigh the the short-term losses of such a move and as the prime economic force on the planet the US is the key to such a future.

There is much hatred and resentment for the Western world and America in particular due to the inequities of the status quo of the system of the world. By redressing the balance of world trade through creating a truly fair and free trade system without tariffs and subsidies increased prosperity can be brought to the third-world and with it an erosion of hatred. This is an oversimplification but the essence of the argument is there.

In addition creating a relatively poverty-free world with it creates new markets in which products and services from the West can be sold. This is a long term achievement that is viable if the political will was there.

This is rambling essay that has ended up in a different place than I though it would when I started it. Time to go check the latest exit polls, not that I believe it matters much.

Tags: politics

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security harasses a toy store owner over an issue of patent infringement.

The next day, two men arrived at the store and showed Cox their badges. The lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube. She said yes. The Magic Cube, he said, was an illegal copy of the Rubik’s Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time. He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.

The whole thing took about 10 minutes.

After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that the Homeland Security agents had it wrong. The Rubik’s Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on rival toy’s trademark.

Tags: security, copyright